Trump says plans to leave Sunday for Middle East

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to leave for the Middle East sometime on Sunday, after Israel and Hamas reached a deal to release hostages held in Gaza.

Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of Trump's initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East.

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The US leader said "nobody's going to be forced to leave" the Palestinian territory under his 20-point peace plan, which formed the basis for indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Egypt.

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He said he hoped to travel to Israel, where he may address parliament, and maybe to Egypt.

"The hostages will be coming back Monday or Tuesday. I'll probably be there, I hope to be there," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

But Trump said that the bodies of some of the dead hostages would be "hard to find." 

Israel's military campaign has devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas took 251 people hostage into Gaza, where 47 remain, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

'Disarming, pullbacks'

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had invited his US counterpart to take part in a "celebration to be held in Egypt" for the agreement for the first phase of a ceasefire.

The Republican gave few details about the second phase of the peace deal and the future of Gaza.

During an earlier meeting of his cabinet, Trump said "there will be disarming, there will be pullbacks," in apparent reference to Israel's demand that Hamas disarm and calls by the Palestinian group for Israel to withdraw its forces, but did not elaborate.

He added that Gaza would be "slowly redone" and indicated that Arab states with "tremendous wealth" would help it rebuild, as well as possibly taking part in peacekeeping efforts.